Vapor, Inc: Information
existing on current internal reference database has been cleared. Please
observe and correct/remove information threatening security as is necessary if
it is considered to be compromised by outside sources.

Abraxas has also seen that the original gateway page updated. It contains quotes asking about the Gateway and what it is.
§

"What is the
gateway? Where does it lead to?"

"Perhaps we should ask
the question differently. Perhaps we should ask ourselves where WE can
lead IT."

"Can you provide images,
or video? Any sort of proof?"

"I will see what I can
do for you. But don't quote me on
that."

Like the original paris page, this has an underlined word in blue, suggesting a weblink. If we try using quote.html as a new page name, we find that it works. Huzzah!
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"It is a well-known phenomenon that we do not notice anything happening in our surroundings
while being absorbed in the inspection of something; focusing our attention on a certain
object may happen to such an extent that we cannot perceive other objects placed in the
peripheral parts of our visual field, although the light rays they emit arrive completely
at the visual sphere of the cerebral cortex."

Rezso Bälint, 1907 (translated in Husain and Stein 1988, page 91)

And despite what you may think, Rezso Bälint was both a real person and really did say that quote. But why does VaporLofts like it so much? Are they trying to focus our attention on one thing, while something else goes on right under our noses?

Anne Is Scared

Anne has gotten a bit spooked that VaporLofts removed the Wiki as it had once contained a link to her own blog. She's now theatening to make the whole thing friends-only so that the VaporLofts people can't see it. I hope she doesn't do that because I don't have an LJ account, nor do I really want one.
§

24 September 2005 @ 03:09 pm

Missing Information

It looks like Vapor has deleted the wikipedia from their site. I hope this doesn't mean that they've found this journal, read over it, and decided that I'm potentially making a bad name for them. That could be bad in a number of ways.

Some comments (that I removed) have been left in previous posts about encrypted files and "cipher text" on Vapor's Atlanta site... I haven't really looked into what those are all about, but I just want to say that I don't think it's a good idea to be snooping around on their web site and talking about it on my journal. I've had a really weird feeling inside about Vapor, Inc. ever since I noticed the ghost in their video, but I really would be unhappy about them seeing something and thinking that I am compromising their business in any way and then cutting me off of their payroll.

Don't get me wrong! I appreciate that I'm not alone in thinking that something strange is going on with Vapor, but I like the money. I'm thinking about changing this journal over to "friends-only", anyway, just in case Vapor has discovered and taken an interest in it. Things might be safer that way. What do you think I should do?

I'll think about it while I'm out. I'm tending the bar tonight while the guys play a long set of classic jazz numbers, so I have to go and help them set things up before they open. I think that they'll have a really good turn out tonight. I also need to ask Moses if he or any of the rest of the guys have any audio production experience. Maybe I'll let them see the tape.

One of the comments to this entry happens to be from Mr. Paris. He's coming to the States soon and wants to hook up with Anne. Too bad she has absolutely no interest in him and too bad for her he can't take a hint.
§

mr_paris 2005-09-24 19:57 pm UTC

I'd definitely go exclusive. It's all about exclusivity these days.
Otherwise, how have you been? If you need anyone to talk to, let me know. I can fly out, we can meet for drinks... or I could fly you out somewhere to meet me! Cost isn't really an issue for me.
I'm probably going to be coming Stateside in a couple of weeks, anyway, and I'd really love to meet you (again?).

Don't be silly, doll. I'm not desperate in any sense of the word. I would, however, love to be the hero here, and it appears you do as well, coming to her defense as you have in a situation about which you know nothing. I'm accustomed to adventure and mystery, and am much better equipped and qualified to provide assistance to Anne than many others.

Furthermore, as an expatriate of the States spending a great deal of time in Great Britain, I'm much less continental than you'd like to believe.

dame_montague 2005-09-26 17:32 pm UTC

OMGSOIMPRESSED! Wait ... nope, not at all.

Championing a lady's cause and swatting at a troll are two different things. And last I checked here and here , she'd really rather you buzz off. So be a good doggie and take the hint.

point_system 2005-09-26 18:37 pm UTC

Thanks for saying that, Dame Montague.

Okay, Paris. If you're so "much better equipped and qualified to provide assistance", maybe you can help out with the audio track and tell us if there's really a second voice in the video or not, and if there is, what it's saying.

And even if you CAN help us out, don't think that it's going to change where I stand with you about what we talked about. I'm still not interested.

mr_paris 2005-09-27 18:51 pm UTC

Excellent suggestion! I've already got some of my friends working on it for you. I'll send you an email as soon as something useful turns up.

Don't Follow Me

Now that we know Franklin Parrish has some sort of ties to VaporLofts, the floodgates have opened. Now we are getting a little more insight into what his relationship is. It starts when we see that the Paris directory had an update. It looks to be just a big black page, until you select all and you see there is a hidden message there.
§

You must gain his confidence and introduce it into the group. The Atlanta project requires its presence during the operations of extraction for the secondary test of the passage. It is currently ignorant following information:

1. Its inherent capacity to draw energy from what is beyond the door.

2. Your participation with the company.

You should also return account to you that there are the potential escapes in the process of information and figuring. We supervised the communication and took measures necessary by removing points of emission of data and suitable fields of collaboration on line by the implied parts. It is considered by the company to currently be a better judgement with remainder uninvolved with information on a level beyond this. If you recieve any communication enquérant itself about your participation with VAPOR Inc, deny all wire.

Moreover notable, it is imperative that you do not follow your preceding historical tendencies to novel the subject, politely to be stated. Without counting that to be, it never discovers your connection with VAPOR Inc, completely dangerous legal implications be expensive for all two you and the company.

The really long line of gibberish text at the bottom that makes the screen scroll is neither backwards, nor ROT'd, nor French. It's just a simple substitution cipher.
§

You should make the trip as soon as possible. There is a window approaching that will be available through the end of the year. You must gain the subject's confidence and cooperation by then. Out Atlanta branch is also working to develop a higher level of trust and participation with the subject.

So what exactly does this give us? Well, we now know that Franklin Parrish is working for VaporLofts and that he is instructed to gain the confindence of someone (or something) without letting them know that he is working for VaporLofts. I don't think that's very nice of him at all. He's also on a timetable and must secure the subject's confindence before then. Why do I get the feeling that our poor little Anne is the subject?

But let's not forget that we have a couple of other pages to visit that were linked off of conn.html: 1303.html and 300.html. Both of them appear to be memos to Franklin consisting of a odd photo.

The 1303 memo consists of a picture which appears to be Atlanta with some of the gibberish writing at the bottom. It's shares some of the same symbols as the conn.html page, but this time it looks like it is written in all capital letters, so we still need to figure out what some of them are. That on top of the fact that the letters are small and blurry does not help.
§

As best as I can figure, the symbols on the bottom of the picture read as follows:

The 300 memo is even stranger than the 1303 memo. All it consists of is a blurry playing card - the king of hearts. Lucky for us, it's camouflaged so we can get a little more information out of it. Then again, maybe not. The password is 884p-86f-81, which is the id number in the memos. When you uncamouflage the picture, you get 300.txt which is not something I would think belongs in official memos.
§

What is worth dying for?
Love?
Like ghosts, it doesn't exist.

Love Notes Gallery

While snooping around Anne's LiveJournal, soliloquy found a another picture gallery: Love Notes. All of the pictures appear to be people writing "I <3 point_system". I wonder if we sent in a picture to her, if it would get posted?

The Second Voice

Well, it seems that there really is a second voice on the VaporLofts video. Shows what I know. Mr. Paris has followed through on his request from Anne to take a look at it himself, and he came up big. Do you think that's maybe because he had access to an original source or something?
§

28 September 2005 @ 02:06 am

A Second Voice, Updated

I'm not sure how he accomplished it, but it seems that Mr. Paris has some connections who know how to work with difficult audio files, and he followed through with an unbelievably more intelligible clip of the second voice from the Vapor promotional tape.

Needless to say, just like the unexplainable ghost image in the video, the voice in the audio makes me feel more than a little anxious and nervous, and even a little frightened of what's really going on in Atlanta. On the other hand, the more that I look into Vapor's Atlanta project, the more interesting it becomes to me. It seems like every question leads to two or three others, and I've gotten some thought provoking emails from some people checking out the Vaporlofts web site that have started to make me really wonder why it is that I'm involved with them in the first place.

Perhaps ominously, Vapor hasn't returned any of my phone calls or emails lately. I suppose it's possible that they've written me off of their payroll already, and they're just waiting for me to take the hint and go away. It's not very professional of them.

I've got to take a copy of this audio clip up to the bar. I'm sure that the guys will be really interested in hearing the voice extraction that Mr. Paris's connections performed. They'll also be able to tell me if he faked it somehow in order to gain my approval, which is entirely possible.

After listening to it a few times, I can pretty clearly hear "What do you want?" And no, I didn't read the comments in the LJ before listening so I wasn't influenced by that. If the voice is saying "What do you want?" it may be that the ghost is on to us and may not necessarily be happy with us bothering it.

Floorplans Are Back

It seems that the floorplans have finally been put back up on VaporLofts - sorta. The first is a revised version of the original that we saw. They now have the "classified" information blurred out. Question: why not just remove it all together? The second floorplan shows Sublevel A, wherever that is. Again, classifed information is blurred out, so we kinda have to guess at what it says.
§

Top left = POWER CONTROL
Bottom left = [something] ACCESS SUBLEVEL TURBINES & GENERATORS
Top middle = Rear Courtyard Entry
Lower middle = PORTAL AREAS
Top right = TO UPSTAIRS

The third floorplan isn't a floorplan at all. It's a picture of three doorways with what appears to be more gibberish writing. Too bad it isn't the same keyset that we already have.
§

The picture itself is fairly dark, but if you adjust the levels in Photoshop, you can see some details in the shadows. The lefthand door in particular seems to hide something ominious.

A One Night Stand

It seems our little Anne wasn't completely level with us regarding Mr. Paris. All this time I thought it was limited to just some random encounter in the Gare du Nord. But she writes to GlitchTybalt and tells him a little more of the story.
§

Hello, Glitch.

Pretty forward of you to ask, I'd say. I'm heading out right now, so I'll make this pretty simple.
What I haven't said is kind of personal, but I'm not really big on secrets, either.

I met Frank Parrish (aka Mr. Paris - what a stupid nickname) when I was on vacation in Paris earlier this year. The long and the short of it is that I ended up drinking way too much and didn't really feel like going home alone. The next day, he took me to Gare Du Nord station, where he proceeded to drop my camera while attempting to be charming. I was so angry!

He posted the Craigslist missed connection ad after that, I guess, politely avoiding mentioning the night before (such a gentleman), but still dropping enough clues so that I'd know it was him. I didn't want to really acknowledge him, because I thought I'd never hear from him again after that, but recently he turned up on my journal, so it seems that he's back (for the time being).

Anyway, I've gotta run. Don't worry, everything will be fine. He doesn't know where I live.

Anne

So Anne got her groove on while she was in Paris. Good for her. Too bad the guy turned out to be such a creep.

Family

Anne is feeling rather isolated today. Her sister seems to have found what she was looking for, so that now just leaves Anne alone and looking. Her parents and grandmother are both gone, and her sister might as well be since she's in New York. I just hope that she doesn't start looking to Franklin to fill the void that she seems to feel in her life.
§

01 October 2005 @ 03:07 pm

Family

The thing about Jenna is that she doesn't usually stay in one place for very long. I was surprised that she decided to stay in New York after her apartment was basically destroyed by vandals. She said that her friends there needed her, at least for a little bit longer, and that she'd be there for a little longer before she started considering new cities. I met a couple of her friends while I was up there, and they're a really eclectic group of people. She fits in with them so well. It's almost as if she's finally found a family that's worth holding on to.

I've been thinking about things like that a lot this week. While I keep an apartment here as a kind of "home base", I try to get away and travel whenever possible. What are we running from? What are we searching for? Family?

There's no broken home story here. My parents were still married all the way up until the day that my father died of a heart attack a few years ago. My mother passed a few months after that.

Jenna and I had a normal enough childhood. We spent a lot of summers with Gran and every now and then a weekend or two with my grandfather on the other side of the family. Summers were for adventure, winters were for studies. There were a lot of things that our family never talked about though, like Gran's love of all things magical, mystical, and mysterious (and why the subject was always off limits with my parents).

If Jenna's found the thing that she's been looking for, then where does that leave me? While I'm not looking for a family in the same way as Jenna may have been, I definitely feel like something is missing from my life. Some days, I feel like I'm checking my watch, waiting for someone who's late to arrive, without any idea as to if they'll even show up at all.

It’s a simple bronze milestone, sealed in a stone of the parvis, about twenty metres from the cathedral. Completely concentrated looking at the western façade of the church, the tourists just trample on it, pass by, don’t notice it without ever seeing it. It is true that nothing announces its presence; only that discreet inscription: ”Point zero des routes de France”. But this milestone is important: it materializes the zero point of France, since several centuries, from where distances are calculated between Paris and other French or foreign cities. The stone was sealed on 10th of October 1924 on the proposal of municipal adviser Georges Lemarchand.

A Binary Puzzle

The Paris directory has updated with a huge bunch of binary (and if you didnt understand that it was binary, the comment in the source code told you).
§

The first step to solving this is to break up the binary into smaller chunks so we can deal with it. Most of the time with binary you break it up into groups of eight. Once you do that, you see that every other block is 00000000. This should mean that those groups are either for spacing or padding purposes.

If we say they are padding, we can then just treat the sequence as blocks of sixteen.
§

As y2kbozo notes, there are 105 numbers, with the first 96 being 0-95 out of order. The last 9 numbers are are all repeats. The next step is to find where each of the last 9 numbers appeared in the previous 96.
§

When we first apply our previous cipher key, it seems that the code is changed because nothing makes sense. That's because, this time around, the text is reversed and ROT-13 (not to mention they stuck a period at both the beginning and end of the text making it that much more difficult to figure out what is going on). Why can't they just stick with one method instead of changing it each time?
§

.Care should be taken to avoid interaction with any entities encountered. Allow the subject to interact freely as she chooses. Take extra precautionary measures before entering a portal via Gateway One in Atlanta.

Reminder, critical: It is imperative that no entities exit the gateway by "piggybacking" with you as a host. Research and development has not isolated a specific type of entity that is capable of embedding without host consent, but many variables are unknown at this time. Know that if your security is compromised, you MUST remain in the portal and await extraction from the Vaporlofts team. Should such an event arise, remember that your contract allows for self-destruction imperative over compromise or breach of security for the company or worldwide safety. You were chosen because of your ability to make critical decisions such as this in the event of high potential emotional instability.

Reminder: The subject must be protected at all costs, overriding all other imperatives.

And for those of you want to ROT-13 then translate:
(plaintextciphertextROT-13)

This page isn't a total bust though. In the source code is a comment: <!-- "twofish" --> This leads us to a newpage, twofish.html. This page only has two pieces of information: an encoded line and a comment in the source code.
§

V[(:Mmeyknf/wwM#mF)zfw[)nP<WwV5^{l)A

<!-- REMEMBER YOUR IMPERATIVES -->

When we finally figure out what this cipher is, we're going to have a lot of new information from it.

No Global Sites - Yet

Lesser Atuin tried to pump VaporLofts for information on their three other sites: London, Tokyo and Johannesburg. Unfortunately, the response he got was not a good one (for those looking for new sites at least.
§

Additionally, global projects besides our North American development do not currently have active websites, as they are in the primary stages of location scouting, research, and development. We at Vapor, Inc. feel that each location should be specifically tailored to fit the ultimate potential of the areas that they are located in before making initial offerings to the public.

Don't they understand how much we like websites to go through?

VaporLofts London, Tokyo & Johannesburg

Well, it's not a new website, but it is something. The three global sites now have pages on the main VaporLofts site. All three pages are basically the same - telling where there are located and a little about the company. The London and Tokyo pages both have some ROT'ed text, while the Tokyo and Johannesburg pages both contain the comment <!-- The Fire Keepers Must Be Stopped. --> Are they just trying to stop Anne, or is the legend actually real? And if it is real - how exactly do you stop a god?
§

London

V a p o r L o f
t s - L o n d
o nLondon's Vapor Lofts are one of the city's most innovative loft redesign projects. Located in the heart of London near Earl's Court, this project will allow many new lifestyle options for residents. The loft space is the exciting revitalization of a neglected warehouse, opening a new chapter of London's history while providing all the comforts of home in a key location of town.

Vapor, Inc. is a full service real estate and renovation design firm with expertise in design, management, leasing and brokerage of commercial investment properties. Headquartered in the United States, with affiliates worldwide.

Each morning I appear
To lie at your feet,
All day I will follow
No matter how fast you run,
Yet I nearly perish
In the midday sun

Tokyo

V a p o r L o f
t s - T o k y oTokyo's Vapor Lofts are one of the
city's most innovative loft redesign projects. Located in a busy shopping
district of Tokyo, this project will allow many new lifestyle options for
the city's residents. The loft space is the exciting revitalization of a
neglected business tower, allowing further innovations to be added to
Tokyo's history while providing all the comforts of home in a key location
of town.

Vapor, Inc. is a full service real estate and renovation design firm with
expertise in design, management, leasing and brokerage of commercial
investment properties. Headquartered in the United States, with affiliates
worldwide.

Currently Under Research & Development.
<!-- The Fire Keepers Must Be Stopped. -->

To unravel me
You need a simple key,
No key that was made
By locksmith's hand,
But a key that only I
Will understand

Johannesburg

V a p o r L o f
t s - J o h a
n n e s b u r g

Johannesburg's Vapor Lofts are one of the city's most innovative loft redesign projects. Located near Johannesburg's exceptional international airport, this project will allow many new lifestyle options for residents. The loft space is the exciting revitalization of a industrial area, revitalizing an area of the city while providing all the comforts of home in a key location of town.

Vapor, Inc. is a full service real estate and renovation design firm with expertise in design, management, leasing and brokerage of commercial investment properties. Headquartered in the United States, with affiliates worldwide.

Currently Under Research & Development.

no additional information provided

The two ROT'ed texts on the London and Tokyo pages are actually riddles. The answer to the London page is shadow, which leads us to shadow.html. It's a pretty empty page except for this reference: Mk 5:9 This refers to the Bible and the Book of Mark, chapter 5, verse 9.

And he asked him, What [is] thy name? And he answered, saying, My name [is] Legion: for we are many.

This leads us to legion.html which is a story about how Shinpu Ofuda saved the city.
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How Shinpu Ofuda Saved The City

A long time ago, there was a river city in the valley, and the people there lived and worked off of the land and the river, and they were happy. It was a time of peace throughout the valley and the neighboring lands.

There was a man who was More Than A Man who lived and worked among the people of the city of the valley, and his name was Shinpu Ofuda. Ofuda did many jobs around the city, helping out his neighbors whenever he could with whatever they needed. Being skilled with lumbering in the forest, he helped to mill the wood that was used to build the docks at the shipyards. With his knowledge of agriculture, he helped to plan the best ways to dig the canals the farmers needed for irrigation. Since he was much stronger than many men, he helped to carry the stones on his back from the nearby mountains which were used to construct the holy temple in the city square.

One day, when Shinpu, carrying a great sword which had been in his family for generations, was exploring new hunting grounds in the forest, he came upon a great and mighty stone. The stone was easily as large as the town square, and although it was buried partially beneath the earth, it rose almost to the tops of the tallest trees surrounding Shinpu.

"How did this stone come to rest in the middle of the forest?" Shinpu wondered as he investigated the surface of the rock, which appeared to be almost as old and worn as the world itself.

"Perhaps it is the top of a mountain, and not a stone at all," he reasoned. "I will try to overturn this stone," he decided, "for underneath all stones are great secrets, and if it is a mountain, then it will not budge."

With that, Shinpu began to push as hard as he could upon the side of the stone. With a great amount of effort, and after a few moments, the stone began to budge. This encouraged Shinpu, and he redoubled his efforts at overturning the rock. Many days and nights passed as Shinpu worked on gaining proper leverage for overturning the rock. Finally, he decided to use his sword to pry beneath the edge of the rock and overturn it. After a few more hours of work, the rock seemed to move as if a force below it was pushing it over, and Shinpu fell to the ground, exhausted, as the ancient rock slid across the ground, knocking over trees and generating an incredible rumble, like an earthquake.

A demon who had been hiding in the darkness and the cold beneath the stone rose out of
a hole in the ground that the stone had previously covered with an explosive blast of wind, laughing, and flew into the air, heading in the direction of the city by the river!

Shinpu saw this, and realised that he had unleashed this demon, and though he was exhausted, he rose to his feet and ran as fast as he could to the city by the river.

When he arrived, he saw that the demon had already ravished many parts of the city, spreading fire and destruction, and he had destroyed the temple.

"Shinpu, you must save us!" cried the people of the city.

Shinpu drew his great sword, once again, and engaged the demon in a fierce battle which lasted for many hours but appeared to be evenly drawn. Whenever the Shinpu would gain a tactical advantage over the demon, the demon would find a way to reverse their standings. Whenever the demon would use his tail to attempt a fatal blow, Shinpu would block it with his forearms or his sword. AS the battle raged on, the
duelists moved closer and closer to the dam which controlled the flow of the river into the city and contained the lake which was on the other side of the mountains.

Finally, Shinpu had the demon pinned, and he prepared to deliver a final crushing blow to the demon, but the demon was very intelligent, and knew of the ways of battle and that Shinpu loved the city on the river and the people who lived there. The demon used his tail to smash into the dam, and the waters of the lake were immediately unleashed, washing over both Shinpu and the demon, but more importantly, heading for the city on the river.

Shinpu was faced with a difficult decision then. Would he destroy the demon that he had unleashed, or would he release the demon from his grasp and attempt to save the city? For Shinpu, there was only one choice that could be made, for he knew that if he released the demon, it would be free to destroy many other cities, perhaps even the world, and he did not know that he could stop the flood waters before they reached the city.

Shinpu Ofuda struck the demon with all of the might remaining in him, delivering a deadly blow that instantly killed the demon. The blow to the demon impacted with such force that Shinpu's sword was broken, and the pieces flew into the air.

As the fates would have it, one of the larger pieces of Shinpu's sword fell into the path of the oncoming floodwaters, and when the waters arrived, they were parted to either side of the city. Shinpu noticed this, and though he was exhausted and injured from his efforts at overturning the rock in the forest and then battling the demon who had attacked the city, he knew that he had a chance to save the people of the city. He once again ran into the city.

When he arrived, he began to move the stones that had once been the holy temple into a large pile where the fragment of his sword was diverting the rushing floodwaters.

This is how the city on the river became the island city between two rivers, and also how Shinpu Ofuda saved the
city.

The answer for the Tokyo riddle is cipher.html and of course it leads to another cipher for us to solve (at least when you check the source code or do a select-all).
§

This is just a Vigenere cipher, with the keyword being cipher. How clever.

ONE DAY SHINPU OFUDA AND A FRIEND WERE WALKING ALONG A RIVER BANK
HOW DELIGHTFULLY THE FISHES ARE ENJOYING THEMSELVES IN THE WATER
SHINPU EXCLAIMED YOU ARE NOT A FISH HIS FRIEND SAID HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHETHER OR NOT THE FISHES ARE ENJOYING THEMSELVES YOU ARE NOT ME
SHINPU SAID HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT I DO NOT KNOW THAT THE FISHES ARE ENJOYING
THEMSELVES

Well there is Shinpu Ofuda again. According to Wikipedia, the ofuda, gofu or shinpu are traditional Shinto religion items, used for protection from or banishing and sealing away evil spirits. They are most often slips of paper with mystical kanji brushed on their surface in the ancient style. And let's not forget that Anne's friendly neighborhood bartender is named Shinpu. Could it be that Anne is being protected from VaporLofts by the people around her even though she doesn't even know it?

Anne Spills the Beans

Anne doesn't seem to be able to keep a secret for very long. She emailed VaporLofts telling them about the ghost and attached both the video clip and the audio sample. Yes, it's always good to tell the big bad company just what you have on them because they never do anything about it.
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09 October 2005 @ 03:54 am

Why Not?

Just a quick update:

Yesterday I decided to roll the dice by sending an e-mail to Vapor about the ghost video, along with the attached video file and audio samples. The image on the tape has been bothering me since I first noticed it, so I decided it was time to stop wondering and get their opinion on what could have caused the face and voice to appear in the video. I haven't heard back from them yet, and don't really expect to until early next week, but I thought I'd make a note of it here.
Hope all is well for you.

Gateway Errors

We have a new update on the Gateway index page today. There is a new line at the bottom talking about a new memo: Additional Memo Clip on Errors It's a small reminder not to upload images with data errors in them.
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Please use care when uploading images to the Vaporlofts server. Data errors in images must not be permitted.

This leads us to check the gateway/images folder. There are seven new images there, all of which are corrupted with inserted text. Obviously, someone isn't paying attention to this memo.
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Shinpu Ofuda sat upon the hill for many hours, meditating the nature of the universe. Shinpu reflected that he had done many good things in his time, but also knew that many of the good things that he had done were necessary because of the many terrible things he had done in his time.

error3.jpg

Shinpu rose from his place of meditation, and traveled down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, there was a bridge, crossing a stream. As he walked over the wooden planks of the bridge, he came upon weeping woman. "Woman, why do you weep?" Shinpu asked of the distressed woman.

"I seek in death what I surrendered in life," she replied.

error2.jpg

Shinpu realised that he was speaking with a spirit, then, but he was not alarmed. "What is it that you surrendered in life that you cannot find in death?" he asked, putting his arm around the spirit-woman.

"I murdered my children for what I thought was truth, for something that appeared to be a more noble cause," she replied, weeping.

error5.jpg

Shinpu waited for her to continue. After a moment, she collected herself. "In life I closed my eyes so that I could see no evil, I closed my ears so that I could hear no evil sound, I closed my mind so that my intentions would remain pure."

error7.jpg

"And in death, are you eyes open? Your ears? Your mind?" Shinpu asked her, reaching the end of the bridge. He lifted his arm from around her shoulders.

"They are, yet I see nothing, hear nothing, and I have no new thoughts save for those that haunt me," she answered, shaking her head.

error1.jpg

Shinpu blessed her, then pointed to the earth. "Be free," he commanded, raising his arm to the sky. "Grieve your life no more, and leave this plane in peace." With that, the woman vanished, weeping no more.

error4.jpg

Sshinpu Ofuda continued onwards, and he did not forget the woman he had encountered, for he felt that he had learned a valuable lesson that day.

error6.jpg

It's another story with Shinpu Ofuda, this time helping an earthbound spirit to move on. Could it be that VaporLofts view themsleves as Shinpu - helping to move spirits onward?

By the way, as it turns out, each of the pictures are fragments of a larger picture. If you carefully remove the inserted text, you can recreate the picture. Or you can just check out y2kbozo's version.

A little while later, another update shows up on the gateway index. We now have a link (5993.html) to Execrpt 1, talking about Sarah Belton. You remember her, right. She's the one that survived the plane crash way back when.
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This is a Playfair cipher. And as they give you the key in the comment, it's not even that hard.

Preliminary analysis of the subject Belton's in relation to potential critical recombination of
subject and entity as a hybrid upon return from portal. *Information Removed* Through all stages of initial preparation, Belton retains coherence and awareness of self. There is no sign that piggybacking has occured. It is believed at this time that the entities encountered within the Gateway must be invited by parties inside of the portal for import into this area. Heavy containment fields are highly recommended at all times in the event of entity escape. Belton has made three entries through the Gateway as of the date of this communication and does not exhibit any of the symptoms of critical failure exhibited in previous lesser qualified test subjects. Perhaps notably, her enthusiasm for entering the Gateway grows daily, though clearances must be permitted and power allowances must be allowed. When questioned about the events occuring within the portal, Belton reports that results and situations coincide all other information provided by previous subjects and their accounts of entities encountered within the portal *Section Removed* *Section Removed* Conclusively, it is recommended that Belton continue researching entities encountered within the Gateway in preparation for the higher goals of the company. Additionally a new subject has been discovered by the company's research team. More information to follow in additional communications as it becomes available.

Note: Punctuation and spacing was added to make it easier to read.

Well, that certainly gives us a lot of information on Sarah. She did work for VaporLofts, testing the Gateway in some capacity (wonder why they lied about that). However, we don't know if this memo is from before or after her encounter with the plane exploding. Was it an experiment gone wrong within the Gateway? Or was it a side effect from traveling through it so many times?

Now let's check out the link on this page. It takes us to security.html.
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Security level
clearances must be maintained at all times.Containment of
information is essential.

Beta Level stages 1-? - Higher clearance permissions for internal communications between locational projects. Access to portal observatories and control areas, clearance for analysis of critical data. Additional data available as this clearance level is granted to the individual.

Tertiary Stage Clearance stages 1-? - Permissions to access data on subjects, all access granted to sublevels. Permission to communicate with subjects if necessary. Additional data available as this clearance level is granted to the individual.

Portal Access Key - [classified information]

(Note: At this time, we do not have enough information to translate the characters } L T so they have been represented as ? in the translation.)

It's gotten to the point where this code seems to be popping up quite a bit, and each time we get a little more information on it. To keep from repeating myself, I have created a new page which has the most up to date key on it. You can view Plain to Cipher, Cipher to Plain and even Plain to ROT-13.

So we now have information on three different security clerances at VaporLofts. If we are going to get any sort of good information, we will need to find someone with a Tertiary Stage Clearance and possibly someone with a Portal Access Key. I wonder what sort of clearance Franklin has and if he would give it up if Anne got him nice and drunk?

Conversations

The Paris index page has also updated today, this time mentioning that conv1 and conv2 have been logged. No links, but it's not too hard to figure out that conv1.html and conv2.html are valid page names.
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Conversation 1

"So, Schreber, what's your first name?"

"Anne."

"How long have you been in Paris?"

"A couple of days, why?"

"Just curious."

Conversation 2

"Cigarette?" I offer her an open soft pack, shaking a couple out.

"I don't smoke," she replied, a serious look in her almond shaped eyes.

"Let me know if you change your mind," I told her as I lit one for myself.

Are these conversations between Anne and Franklin? And if so, why are they on this page? They don't seem to be bursting with important information.

Anne Adds an Image Backup

Anne has added an image backup folder to her personal VaporLofts directory. Most of the pictures are either from her Paris trip, or are of the VaporLofts Atlanta property. There is one interesting one of a samurai, that has some text stuck inside of it.
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i'm all alone in here

i shouldn't be

messing with her files like this

i feel like my job is in danger but i don't think they know that i am leaking information to the world yet

DO NOT TRUST PARIS

i am an agent for vaporlofts

if they find out that i am leaking information they will surely kill me

JUST LIK ETHEY

JUST LIKE THEY DID WITH BELTON

another failed experiment?

Samurai (? or sometimes ?) is a common term for a warrior in pre-industrial Japan.

Most samurai were bound by a strict code of honor (??? bushido-) and were expected to set an example for those below them. A disgraced samurai could regain honor and respect by committing suicide by a gruesome and painful means: stabbing himself in the stomach with his own sword, an act called seppuku (??). When time was available, samurai would have a friend or student, called a kaishaku (??, executioner), decapitate them after the initial cut across the abdomen. Even in death, samurai were beholden to honor.

So we have a fourth person now working for VaporLofts besides Anne, Franklin and Sarah. Although whoever this is obviously doesn't like, or at least trust, Franklin. Maybe we can count on him/her to help out Anne when VaporLofts get their little grubby paws on her (beucase you know it's just a matter of time.

Stupid side note: I'm pretty sure this picture is from the movie The Last Samurai, but I'll be damned if I can find a copy on the web anywhere.

Mr. Paris Speaks Latin

Wow, Mr. Paris has finally put an entry into his LiveJournal instead of just commenting at Anne's.
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Pia Fraus.Oct. 13th, 2005 | 12:00 am

Ab imo pectore, aegri somnia:

Minatur innocentibus qui parcit nocentibus... et non omnia moriar.

Graviora manent; alis volat propiis.

Haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

It seems Franklin has taken a bit of Latin.

Pious DecietFrom the depth of my chest, I have ill dreams [come these nightmares]
threatening the innocent who spare the guilty... and not all of them die.
Painfully waiting; flying on the wings of the [greatful/blessed] dead.
It will help to remember this in the future.

He also has a (new?) comment in his profile that is also in Latin. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? "Who watches the watchers?"

The Invitation

VaporLofts has invited Anne to Atlanta to take a tour of their project grounds. And all this time I thought she was in Atlanta. Looking back, I don't see anywhere where she actually says where she lived, so it must have been the idea that she would apply to a company in the same town. Regardless, Anne has decided to take them up on their offer and travel to Atlanta. Is she crazy? Doesn't she watch any horror/suspense movies? You never, ever, ever take the evil company up on it's offer to visit them unless it's absolutely necessary. Anne is such a goner.
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15 October 2005 @ 04:23 pm

The Invitation

I heard back from Vapor about the ghost footage. They said that they'd review the tape for anything unusual. They said that no one involved in the Atlanta renovation project has reported anything like that to them, and that they'd investigate the matter promptly to see if it is some sort of prank on the part of one of their crew members.

They also invited me to Atlanta for a tour of their project grounds, insisting that they'd foot the tab for my travel expenses. This would be an excellent opportunity for me to travel to a city I've never been to before as well as check out the lofts.

I have some hesitation about leaving, though. I've been working a lot more down at the bar, and have lost interest in doing work for other potential clients who've been contacting me. The tips that I make at the bar are more than enough to supplement the regular paycheck that Vapor's still sending to me.

I talked to Shinpu (I still don't think that's his real name, for the record) about taking a few days to go down to Atlanta. He sipped his coffee, as usual, and didn't say anything for a moment. He regarded me, unblinking eyes never breaking contact with mine, then suddenly he looked away (I was always good at staring contests).

"You're not even officially on our payroll, Anne," he said. "Follow the path that suits you the best."

It was a rather strange response, but Shinpu never talks that much, really, and when he does it's more often than not the kind of thing you've got to think about for a minute. I felt like he disapproved of the idea, but that he was being polite.

"Do you disapprove?" I asked.

"Do you feel that I should?" he replied, questioning me. Before I could answer, though, he continued. "If you feel that going to Atlanta is the only way to answer the questions that you're asking yourself, then you already know what you're going to do."

Good point.

I've emailed Vapor again to let them know that I'm interested in taking them up on the offer.

2 More Conversations

The Paris directory has updated to say that two more conversations have been logged. Both of them are absolute pains to read on the page, since the the text shows up about 1 pixel high.
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Voice on the phone - Are you ready, Parrish?

"Yes, I suppose that I've always been ready for this."

Voice on the phone - Your critical mission will commence shortly. We don't have to tell you how important it is that you succeed at accomplishing the discussed goals. A
lot of people are depending on your success.

"I know. I've been studying all of the available data. Do you think we actually have a chance?"

Voice on the phone - We have faith in you, Frank.

Welcome back to the US, Sir. (pause) My, you've been away a long time. Business in Europe?

I have a couple of homes there.

Ah, lucky for you. Must be nice to have homes in Europe. Always someplace you can escape to, huh? (chuckle)

As if that's possible anymore.

(Strange look) Have a pleasant stay, Sir.

So Franklin is back in the States now. Watch out Annie or you're gonna be the next ghost in the machine. Oh wait, she's already travelling to Atlanta so she probably already is.

Towards Death...err, Atlanta

So Anne has a week to live, I mean, she has a week before she heads off to Atlanta and certain doom. Because you just know she's gonna end up kidnapped. Right after her rental car explodes. Or maybe right before because if she was in the rental car when it explodes, there wouldn't be much to kidnapp. Then Franklin will take her back to VaporLofts, stick her through the Gateway and send her wherever it is that it goes. Then our mysterious little samurai friend will start to contact us some more, hoping that we can save Anne's soul from wherever it's being stored. Yep, that's what's gonna happen alright.
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20 October 2005 @ 03:12 am

Towards Atlanta

I finally heard back from Vapor about the trip to see their Atlanta project. If everything goes well, I should head out early next week. I haven't told Shinpu yet, but I'm hoping that he's still supportive of my decision when I do let him know.

I'll be in Atlanta for three or four days, since they are insisting that I tour the city while I'm there to get a general feel for its style and the way the people in the area "live, work, and play". In other words, I'll do a quick tour of their project and then it's time for a short vacation (and possibly some innocent snooping)!

I'd post more details about the trip, but I don't think it's really the best idea with my current track record for running into suspicious characters while travelling about.

I'll keep you updated if anything changes and will definitely make a post when I get back home again. I'm really hoping that this trip will shed some light on the strangeness that seems to surround Vapor, Inc.

Twofish Solution

Sad that it's taken us this long to solve that little string, but I have had other things to do, like writing this guide.

In case you have forgotten, our little friend from twofish.html reads:

V[(:Mmeyknf/wwM#mF)zfw[)nP<WwV5^{l)A

For the longest time, we thought it was in the same cipher key as floorplans.html, floor1c.jpg, and 1008.html. But it's actually just a ROT-10 version of our standard gibberish key.
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CRYPTography

Twofish
RipeMD
CFB?bit

(Note: At this point, we don't have enough information to decode the { symbol.)

So it's entirely possible that we have to use a more secure method of cryptography to decode those entries. Too bad I don't have the first clue as to how.